


The Picnic

by Malakia



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff, M/M, Spring, sloaners shinobi-spring-exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23808550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malakia/pseuds/Malakia
Summary: Kakashi only wanted to have a normal, quiet picnic with his boyfriend. You think he would realize by now though that nothing is ever normal or quiet.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Uchiha Obito
Comments: 6
Kudos: 101





	The Picnic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dustydaze](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dustydaze/gifts).



> This is a gift fic for Demuri from Sloaner's Shinobi-Spring-Exhange! I hope you like it, Demuri!

Kakashi took a deep breath, taking in the scent of all the wildflowers. Next to him, Obito chatted away with his warm hand in his as they leisurely walked through the field. 

“And,  _ of course,  _ Genma started laughing,” Obito cackled, “and in his drunken ass state, Kotetsu tried to take a swing at him but ended up falling on his face! Izumo looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him!”

“Poor Izumo,” Kakashi nodded sympathetically, “I know what it feels like in having to take a drunk partner home when they do something dumb.”

“Yeah, you really should have been there,” Obito continued to cackle before he abruptly stopped, turned with a sharp frown, and yelled, “Oi!”

Kakashi hummed with a chuckle as Obito glared at him. 

His partner then huffed and turned away with a pouty expression.

Kakashi didn’t bother to apologize. Both in part because it was the truth and also he knew Obito was just putting on an act.

Indeed, when he decided to pull them both to a stop at finding a good, dry spot, Obito’s expression lightened to jovialness as they let go of each other’s hands. They then set out to flatten the flowers around them as best as they could. 

When that task was finished, Obito set down the picnic basket he held and pulled out a blanket. As he laid the cloth out, Kakashi came over and picked up the basket to move it out of the way. When Obito had finished the task, the other man placed the basket in the center of the piece of fabric.

The two of them sat down, Kakashi sitting cross-legged next to the basket while Obito practically fell back onto the blanket to sprawl out on it. Kakashi noted how his partner’s one eye was closed with no stressful tightness and he wore a huge smile on his face as he soaked in the warmth of the sun.

Under his face mask, a smile formed as he also grew warm. Though he knew that his had very little to do with the sun. No, this was all Obito’s doing. Because there was nothing more satisfying than seeing the person you love so carefree and happy.

“Move your limbs,” he chuckled as he reached into the basket to pull out their lunch. 

Obito hummed and sat up. He leaned forward, still wearing a large smile. “What did you make?”

“Patience,” Kakashi chided mockingly as he pulled out the containers.

Obito stuck out his tongue before he started to help by taking the containers, opening them, before setting them off to the side.

Working together, they set out the smorgasbord of food. Onigiri, cucumber sandwiches, cold meats and fruits, and, to top everything off, strawberry lemonade.

Once everything was out and settled, they laid in the field on their blanket, eating and laughing. Kakashi felt comfortable enough to remove his face mask which Obito took advantage of by feeding him and sneaking kisses. The Hatake didn’t put up his usual fuss when his boyfriend did- if only to keep the peace and see the bright smile his partner wore.

And it was nice. Nice not having to wear their jounin uniforms. No paperwork to fill out. No coming home at crazy hours and passing out before they even had a chance to say hello to one another. No hospital or psychological visits. And most importantly, no need to worry about if someone was around the corner to kill them.

Yet during the time they were relaxing, Kakashi took note that sometimes Obito’s eye would travel to the treeline nearby. He made an effort to not appear like he was but Kakashi wasn’t fooled one bit.

At the same time, his partner’s body language wasn’t tense so it couldn’t be anything threatening. But it wasn’t something that Kakashi could readily see whenever he discreetly looked, so that really didn’t help his nerves. 

Finally, after Obito looked again, Kakashi inquired as he took a bite of a sandwich, “What’s so interesting by the trees?”

Obito jumped a little before he turned sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Ah, sorry,” he muttered. “It’s nothing.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “If it’s ‘nothing’ then why do you keep looking over there?”

His boyfriend’s face became a little red while he winced. “It’s- it’s silly. You know, the cat thing?”

Kakashi paused from taking a drink. “There’s a stray cat nearby?”

Obito huffed. “Of  _ course  _ it is a stray, Bakakashi. I just don’t know if it’s feral or not.”

“...But you still want to help it.” Kakashi kept any accusation out of his tone, just simply stating a fact. 

The Uchiha huffed again. “Well, duh. Like you are with any stray dog.”

Kakashi sighed. It was true. Like the Uchiha with felines, the Hatake clan had the ability to sense any stray canine. It was a weird Kekkei Genkai that stemmed, in theory, from the need to capture and then form a companionship with the wild animals. And while it was successful, only certain clans could use it on one animal type. And as Villages were established and animals domesticated, the bloodline ability had lost much of its use. But still, it lived on.

“Why are you ignoring it?” Kakashi asked as he watched Obito. Because it didn’t stop the urge to hunt down the animal. The man knew intimately the persistent annoyance it caused when ignoring it.

“Because today is about  _ us,”  _ Obito pronounced adamantly. “Not chasing stay cats that may or may not be feral.”

Kakashi couldn’t help but smile indulgently at the announcement as he leaned his cheek against his fist. His boyfriend could be adorable. Still, though, he reached out and poked affectionately, if not a bit forcefully, into his partner’s side. He chuckled when Obito flinched slightly with an “Oi!” 

“Go see the cat, you idiot,” Kakashi chuckled. “Seeing if the cat is okay won’t take you long.”

Obito wore a full-on pout. “But what about our day?”

Kakashi rolled his eye. “A picnic won’t be ruined by you checking on a  _ cat.” _

Obito stared at him before he signed. He then grunted as he stood up. “Alright.” He grinned and he reached out a hand. “But only if you come with me.”

Kakashi stared at him, unimpressed.

As both of them stood their ground- Obito with an outstretched hand and a bright grin while Kakashi sat on the ground looking up at him- Kakashi weighed the option in front of him. On the one hand, he was very comfortable where he sat and, surely, Obito wouldn’t be  _ that  _ long. On the other hand, he knew how stubborn his boyfriend could be when he got an idea in his head. 

Finally, he just sighed and reached out to grab Obito’s hand. Better to give in over something so simple. And the beautiful victorious smile on Obito’s made up for it. 

Obito grabbed some meat before the two of them set off to the edge of the forest. The Uchiha led the way, given the circumstances, and Kakashi lazily sauntered behind with his hands in his pockets.

As his partner beelined for a tree with some knarled and thick roots, Kakashi was half tempted to pool out his Icha Icha book that he had secretly brought as he waited. But then thought of Obito’s face when he had threatened to burn his precious collection if he brought any on their picnic, and refrained. Besides today he didn’t have to hide when he ogled his boyfriend’s ass. 

And what a view it was as Obito got down on his hands and knees. But then Kakashi tried not to flinch when his partner made a hand sign and the roots began to move.

The simpled usage of Mokuton always reminded him of a time when he had  _ failed.  _ When Obito had been crushed under a rock and he truly started to realize his feelings toward the Uchiha. 

Then it followed Rin’s near-death experience that timed with Obito’s return with a strange Mangekyou Sharingan. And then the confusion that followed as Konoha now hunted down an old man that experimented on the dark-haired boy to give him a Kekkei Genkai he shouldn’t have with the cells of the Shodamie Hokage. A man and a shadow that not only threatened Konoha but the rest of the world. All during the midst of a war. 

Kakashi took a deep breath and pushed back those memories and focused on the good as his therapist had ordered. All of it was in the past and the weight of guilt that would have brought him to his knees wasn’t so heavy anymore. Obito and Rin had taken what had happened to them as a positive and used it to help reform Konoha with Minato-sensei, the  Yondaime Hokage.

_ These  _ were the things he needed to focus on. To keep him here in the present and not the past.

“Oh.” The softness in Obito’s tone drew Kakashi from his thoughts. He saw his partner completely frozen, staring wide eye down into the roots.

Curious, Kakashi moved forward and peered over his boyfriend’s shoulder. Only to completely freeze too. There was a small black mass of fur was in the farthest part in the root with wide gold eyes. 

“That’s... not a house cat...,” Kakashi murmured lamely.

That seemed to kick Obito into gear. He raised his head and looked around. He frowned though before he looked back down at the panther cub. “I don’t sense any large animals nearby.” He tilted his head to the side, thinking.

“I guess it makes sense that I felt him,” he pondered while he took some slices of the meat and tore it into smaller pieces. As he tossed the smaller chunk to the cub, just right in front of it. “He probably wandered off from his home.”

Kakashi hummed and leaned back to watch his partner cooing encouragingly at the tiny feline. “Should we leave it here then?”

Obito bit his bottom lip as the cub immediately pounced on the meat once it must have realized it wasn’t going to be taken away. “If it wandered outside of its mother’s territory...” He looked over his shoulder. “The mother might not look for her cub this far.”

Kakashi frowned. That certainly complicated things now. 

Obito’s face then lit up before it became pensive. “Hey, what if we bring the cub with us to our picnic?” He turned back to the little feline to toss it more meat. “We’re not far and we can see if the mother comes back!”

“That doesn’t sound wise...”

Then Obito turned his head and Kakashi silently cursed. His partner was looking at him with big pleading eyes that always pulled on his heartstrings. And Obito  _ knew  _ it, which was a dirty move. It was funny how when they were younger, Kakashi was immune to it (so he would always claim), but now it made him a complete mess.

Kakashi closed his one eye and looked up to the sky. He took a deep breath as he tried to pull on every bit of strength he had yet Obito’s face kept haunting his mind.

“Fine,” he breathed out with reluctant acceptance. 

He lowered his face just in time to see Obito pump a fist. His boyfriend then turned his attention back to the cub.

It was a couple of more minutes of coaxing the young feline out with much hissing, near scatches and bites, and Kakashi resisting the urge again to pull out his Icha Icha to cope with the craziness of what he was witnessing. In the end, finally, the little cub got nestled in Obito’s arms.

It still didn’t look relaxed with the hairs on the back of its neck raised and tail swishing agitatedly back and forth. Yet Obito kept feeding it small bits of meat and it seemed appeased enough to not do anything dangerous. 

Obito’s smile was victories as he stood up and turned to Kakashi. “The little guy has a lot of energy,” he snickered.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “So it’s a boy?”

His boyfriend nodded as he walked past. “So back to lunch?” he laughed.

The Hatake sighed with a shake of his head. He couldn’t help but smile, however, and followed. 

The two of them returned to their picnic with their new guest. Obito first set the cub down on the blanket and for a moment the feline looked around as the two men then sat down.

“He’s very cute,” Obito chuckled as the cub started to circle around them.

“We’re not keeping him,” Kakashi announced, deadpan.

Obito threw his head back with a bark of laughter. Kakashi was more than used to this but the cub jumped and scurried back. Immediately, Obito down to a chuckle and grabbed some more meat to toss to the feline in an apology. 

As he continued to chuckle as he said, “I’m not like you, Bakakashi.” He looked out of the corner of his eye to the jounin with a smirk. “ _ I  _ don’t want to take home every stray that crosses my path.”

“No,” Kakashi agreed. “But the stray cats  _ do  _ come around because you keep feeding them.”

“Stay cats are just independent,” the Uchiha countered. “Rather feed them from a place they know than force them into the house.”

“The dogs come  _ willingly,”  _ defended Kakashi.

Obito tossed more meat as he snickered. “Sometimes only  _ after  _ you get your ninken involved,” he reminded.

Kakashi huffed with a roll of his eye. 

He then turned his attention to the cub. The little panther was closer now and had abandoned some of the meat pieces Obito had thrown in favor of sniffing some of the cucumber sandwiches. 

His partner leaned down slowly on his side to the cub. When the little feline looked like it was going for a bite, Obito reached out and waved a hand to shoo it away. “No, don’t eat that,” he snickered as the little guy skittered away.

As it moved away, the cub seemed to grow a bit of a backbone and turned to pounce on Obito’s hand. The Uchiha moved his hand in time but rather than fully pull it away he laid his hand flat on the ground made it jump at the panther. The little guy moved back before he circled around to go after his boyfriend’s hand again. 

Kakashi leaned back on his hands with a smile as he watched the two of them play. “You shouldn’t encourage such bad behavior,” he chuckled. “What will the poor mother say?”

“She ought to thank me!” Obito laughed as he went on.

Kakashi huffed before he reached for one of the cucumber sandwiches. Unfortunately, the cub noticed and tried to go after his hand as the Hatake swiped the food.

“No,” he grumbled before he took a bite. “Go play with Obito.”

His boyfriend snickered. “Don’t worry, buddy,” he caught the cub’s attention so the could resume their playing, “he’s not a cat person.”

“Amazing how I fell for you then,” Kakashi joked drily.

“It’s because of my  _ awesome  _ personality,” Obito announced with a laugh.

The Hatake rolled his eye but a corner of his mouth tilted up.

His partner and the cub continued to play until the feline was panting a little and seemed to grow bored of their game. He approached the sandwiches one more, Obito shooed him away again, and this time the cub went away to explore the fruits.

Kakashi eyed the little guy. “Can cats eat fruit?”

Obito shrugged and sat up. “Some fruit,” he answered as he moved the bowl away. “But better be safe than sorry and just give him meat.”

Kakashi nodded and went to grab some of the cold cuts. The cub though had other ideas and jumped toward the center of the blanket to follow the bowl. 

“Oi!” Kakashi changed the direction of what he was going to grab in order to save the strawberry lemonade from spilling. 

The cub paid him no mind and just followed after what he wanted to investigate. 

Obito placed the bowl on a closed part of the picnic basket. This stopped the cub, who now found the basket more fascinating. He began to sniff the wooden container until he went to the other side where it was open. 

“We should probably close the lid of the basket,” Kakashi pointed out. 

However, before either of them could react, the cub did exactly what Kakashi thought he would do and jumped into the empty carrier.

Kakashi sighed as his face fell into one of his hands. For his part, Obito just laughed at the panther’s antics. When the Uchiha tried to remove the little guy, the cub would swipe at the hand. 

“If he decides to use the bathroom in the basket,” Kakashi warned as he took another bite of his sandwich, “you’re cleaning it up.”

Obito rolled his eye but Kakashi noted with a hint of amusement and satisfaction that his boyfriend now tried to get the cub out with a bit more urgency. 

When it became clear, after the amount of hissing and angry paw swipes, that he couldn’t get the cub out by just reaching in, Obito switched tactics. He tried coaxing him out with a bit of meat but the panther wasn’t having it as he growled low.

Obito huffed and waved a hand at Kakashi. “Hand me a flower,” he ordered as he glared into the basket.

One corner of Kakashi’s mouth tilted up as he finished his sandwich and silently followed instructions.

When he handed over a flower he had picked, Obito glanced at it and made a low noise in the back of his throat. “Not the lavender, Bakakashi!” He threw the flower away. 

“You never said which one,” Kakashi sing-song. “And I thought it would be interesting enough the cub wouldn’t mind.”

“And what if he accidentally takes a bite from it?” Obito snapped and held out his hand again.

“I would hope you wouldn’t allow that,” Kakashi shrugged and went for another flower. He knew lavender was bad for cats, despite it looking very interesting. Obito had told him as such and even sectioned those flowers, and others that were bad for felines, in an area of their garden that was away from where the strays would come and go.

Going with a forget-me-not to be safe (as far as he knew), he handed over the flower. Obito’s frown lessened and he nodded in thanks.

Kakashi  _ highly  _ doubted using the flower like a cat toy would work if the meat didn’t. However, he was surprised when the panther chirped curiously and poked his head out of the basket.

Obito smirked as he waved the flower in front of the cub’s face The little guy would swipe at it to try and catch it but Obito would pull it back at the last second as he had done with his hand during their last play. However, when Obito pulled the fower away the panther ducked back into the basket. 

Kakashi bit his bottom lip, sharp teeth cutting into his skin, to not laugh as his partner frowned. 

Obito did the flower trick again and once more, the cub poked his head out to try and nab the plant. And just like before, when Obito pulled the flower away the little guy ducked back inside.

The Uchiha pressed his lips together and Kakashi knew he was in for a good show.

He grabbed an onigiri and leaned back to munch on it as his boyfriend and the cub did their back and forth. He made no comment or move to help because he knew that it would all be rejected or him being yelled at. And he would certainly hate to end this entertaining display so soon.

The act went on for a couple of minutes. The cub seemed intent on staying where he was but Obito was equally determined to draw him out.

Finally, Kakashi had to turn away or he was going to lose his fight with not laughing. 

Only once he was sure that he was calm enough to look back, he heard a victorious “Ah ha!”

He turned just in time to see the sub stumbling out of the basket to follow the flower. Obito’s grin was smug as he led the little guy and extended his hand with the flower towards Kakashi.

The Hatake sent his boyfriend an incredulous stare with a raised eyebrow. He only got a sharp look and he sighed. He reached out and took the flower to lead the cub towards him as Obito turned away to secure the basket. Only, when the panther was a few inches away, he let the feline grab the plant.

The cub chewed on the flower as he fell onto his side and back.

“Well, it doesn’t look like he made a mess.” Obito threw up a ‘v’ with his fingers with a big grin. “And the picnic basket is fully closed.”

Kakashi just rolled his eye.

As Obito now took bites of the food, the cub had finished playing with the flower and got up. He looked up at Kakashi and the jounin stiffened. “What is that judgemental look for?” he muttered with a narrowed eye. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Probably because you didn’t play with him,” Obito snickered.

“That’s for you to do,” Kakashi replied back, deadpan. “You take the cats and I take the dogs.”

“You love the cats as much as I do, and you know it!” Obito did reach out for another forget-me-not though and immediately the cub bound over to him to play.

“Right...” Kakashi murmured. Yet he couldn’t help but smile as his chest grew warmer while he watched his partner play with the cub again.

Lunch continued without much affair after that. The two men continued to eat and offered the cub more meat cuts. For the little panther’s part, he would play around them in the flowers or with Obito. He tried to play with Kakashi but the jounin would consider it more akin to hunting. The feline would only jump on him from behind or when Kakashi took his eye off him. 

By the time their picnic lunch was finished, any sort of idea of the cub’s mother showing up was long gone. 

“Maybe we should hunt down the mother’s territory,” Obito muttered as he looked to the forest. He now stood and cradled the completely relaxed cub in his arms.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” Kakashi replied as he cleaned everything up. Even he would admit, he was worried. Had the cub’s mother abandoned him?

Once he was finished with the cleanup, he stood, basket in hand, and said, “It will be difficult to find where he is from though on our own. We should use one of my tracking ninken.”

Obito nodded.

Kakashi shifted the basket to hang off his arm and placed a hand on the ground to form a fuuinjutsu circle. “Summoning Jutsu!”

When the smoke cleared, Pakkun was there. “Hey Boss!” he waved a paw. “And BB is here too!”

“Hey Pakkun,” Obito grinned, if a bit stiffly while his shoulder twitched at the nickname. Kakashi ignored it while he leaned down and petted his summon in greeting.

When Kakashi let up, Pakkun looked around and tilted his head when he noticed the cub. “So... what’s up?” he asked slowly while he eyed the panther. “You didn’t summon me to play with this furball, did you?”

Both men chuckled. “No,” Kakashi assured. “We actually need you to track where he came from.”

Pakkun gave them both a flat look. 

Once the situation was explained though he nodded. “Alright,” he muttered reluctantly as he walked over to Obito.

The Uchiha crouched down and the cub became more alert. The little guy noticed and eyed Pakkun, hairs standing up, but made no move to attack. The ninken didn’t seem so sure of him either. 

“You swipe at me,” he warned to the cub, “and I won’t hesitate to bite you.”

If the panther understood or not, he didn’t give any sign. Yet when Pakkun got in range to pick up his scent, the feline flexed his claws.

Obito grimaced but made no move to drop the cub while Pakkun took a couple of sniffs. 

The ninken then moved back and sniffed the air.

“Alright, Boss,” Pakkun nodded to the forest. “I got the scent.”

Kakashi nodded as Obito stood up. “Lead the way.”

Pakkun nodded and ran off with the two men quickly following.

As expected, their path led them to the forest. But then their journey took them further and further into the woods than what Kakashi had suspected. He silently admitted, it rather impressed him with how far the cub had wandered.

Their trail went on and on until Pakkun suddenly stopped not far from a cliff face. He pointed forward. “His scent is strongest not far off,” he grimaced. “Along with a bunch of other scents. Especially one that just screams ‘danger.’”

“Probably the mother and the other cubs,” Obito murmured.

His partner slowly moved forward and Kakashi was not far behind. Pakkun stayed back.

Obito slowly set the cub down but rather than wander off, the little guy just looked around and didn’t move.

His partner waved a hand and Kakashi reached into the basket before he handed him a bit of some meat they had saved. During their lunch, they had discussed this plan as a backup.

Obito placed the meat in front of the cub who immediately set to eating it. With that, the two men slowly crept back and blended in with the trees.

The two of them crouched low with Pakkun and watched through the branches of some shrubs. They didn’t have to wait long, thankfully- just after the cub finished eating and was looking around again without a care in the world. 

Out of some thick bushes, a slick spotted leopard stalked out. Followed quickly by two other spotted leopard cubs.

The cub they had taken care of rushed to his family. His siblings greeted him warmly with enthusiastic pounces and squeaky growls. The mother sniffed over the black club with gurgling growls before she began to lick him all over.

Then without further fanfare, she picked up the once wayward cub by the scruff of his neck and stalked off with the two other cubs in tow. Kakashi suspected back to some warm cave given the location.

Kakashi let out a slow breath as his body relaxed. He was somewhat worried that the mother would actually reject him for the foreign scents. Now though he could bask in the warming knowledge that the cub was now safe and back at home.

He turned to look at his partner only to pause. He then raised an eyebrow. “Are you  _ crying?” _

“No!” Obito hissed as he wiped at his eye.

Pakkun rolled his eyes and Kakashi smiled a little. “This is why the ninken call you ‘BB,’” he teased. 

“I am not a crybaby!” snapped his boyfriend.

Pakkun sent Kakashi a look that he didn’t want to play this game. After all, ‘BB’ actually meant ‘Beta Boss’ but Kakashi wouldn’t tell Obito that. It was just too much fun to tease his boyfriend and his ninken were too loyal to actually tell the Uchiha what it really meant.

“Thank you for your help, Pakkun,” Kakashi shifted the conversation. 

“No problem, Boss,” the ninken saluted. “We still good for tonight?”

“Yeah,” Obito replied as he stood up with a grin. “We’ll have some nice steaks for you and the boys.”

Pakkun grinned widely and winked. “We’ll see you then!”

Kakashi then flashed a hand sign and Pakkun was gone.

“You ready to go home?” Kakashi asked as he stood. He about pulled up his face mask but Obito caught his hand. 

Before he could ask why, his partner leaned forward and kissed him soundly.

He would be embarrassed to ever admit his brain short-circuited for a second, as it normally did when Obito did something that caught him off guard. 

His partner pulled back and smiled. “Keep the mask down for a bit longer?” he asked.

Kakashi’s face grew warm but he smiled and nodded. 

Obito’s grin was bright as he turned and started to run off. “Come on Bakakashi!” he called over his shoulder. “Race ya!”

The jounin just stood there for a moment before he shook his head with a chuckle. He then jumped off in order to catch up with his partner. 

**Author's Note:**

> Did you know that leopards can give birth to black panthers?


End file.
